by Donald Moore

Created on: November 14, 2007   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

A thing may be trustworthy even if it does not always work perfectly. We get in our cars and drive mile upon mile even though sometimes tires go flat. Sometimes, voting does not work perfectly but that does not mean to be trusted.

Certainly, voting does not always work perfectly. The reason could be as innocent as a defective machine or a misprinted ballot. Or the reason could be insidious as the corruption as Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall or the dead voting early and often in Daley's Chicago. However, over time these are corrected by legislative or administrative actions. In the end, these kinds of exceptions prove the rule that the American people are amazingly well served by our election process.

The laws that govern elections process are crucial. Among other things, they govern matters of age or residency or citizenship and the like. When the rightness of these laws are questionable there are means to correct them. We have in times past corrected the errors regarding laws preventing women or minorities from voting. And future corrections will no doubt be needed as well. The point is that we do a terrific job of providing for one of the dearest liberties in the world - the right to legally cast a ballot and have it count!

It is unfortunate that some use the imperfect functioning of vote counting to cast doubt on our elected officials. For example, many reviews, from a broad spectrum of political perspectives, of the balloting in Florida during the 2000 presidential election have been done. NOT ONE has concluded any impropriety about the way votes were counted. Despite this, almost as an article of religious faith, some continue to question the authenticity of the outcome.

I for one am confident that when I mark my ballot according to the election laws of my state that my vote is recorded correctly. The outcome may not always be as I would wish but I trust the process even if it is not always perfect.

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